Camera-shutter release.



PATENTED FEB. 11, 1908. G. G. LITTLE.

CAMERA SHUTTER RELEASE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 27, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

NITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

CHARLES CHASE LITTLE, OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA.

CAMERA-SHUTTER RELEASE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 11, 1908.

. Application filed February 27. 1907. Serial No. 3591628.

resident of San 'Jose, in the county of Santa- Clara and State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in a Camera- Shutter Release, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Thepurposeof the invention is to provide adevice for automatically operating or releasing the shutter. of a camera at a known interval after the photographer leaves it,len-

abling the photographer to appear in the picture taken.

A further purpose of 'the invention is to provide means for rendering the device readily adaptable to most all types and sizes of cameras, and to provide an attachment of the character described that will not only be exceedingly simple in'construction, but also economic, readily applied, and which can be conveniently packed to occupy but little I space.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts as will be hereinafter fully set forth and pointed outin the claims.

Reference is to behadto the accompanying drawings forming'a part of thisspecification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a standard camera and the attachment applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a box or hand camera, and a side elevation of the applied attachment; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the attachment drawn upon an enlarged scale; Fig. 4 is a sectional side elevationof the body portion of the attachment;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken practically on the line 55 ofFig. 3; Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a clamp1 connecting the attac ment to the finger release ofa shutter when other means are not available; and Fig. 7 is a section through a clip adapted to connect the strands of a trip cord employed.

A represents a standard camera of any approve type, provided with ,an automatic shutter A having the customary finger relei e 10. The camera A is shown adjustably supported on a body 11, said body being provided with a focusing screw 12, and'the body 11 is carried by a tripod A. Inthe event that the finger release 10 1s that is employed for.

6, and this clamp is applied directly to the finger release 10, and the attachment in such event is made directly to the clamp. This clamp'inits preferred form consists of two parallel members 13 and 14, one member, the member 14, for example, being provided with an eye 15 at one of its ends. A locking screw 16 is used to draw the two members 13 and 14 to ether, being loosely passed, for example, t ough the member 13 and made to enter a threaded aperture in the member 14, an adjustable screw 17 is also employed, shown carried by the member 14 and ar rangedfor engagement with the member 13, whereby to limit the space between the two members.

pin 18, preferably at the end carrying the eye '15, which guide pin is attached to one v erence screwed upon the said cylinder. 7. An

opening 22 is made in the central portion of t e upper head 21 and an arch '23 is constructed over the saidopening 22 integral with the u per head 21, as is best shown in Fig. 3. A ail 24 is pivoted to the said arch 23 and a hook 25, or -its equivalent, is con 'nected with the upperportion of the said bail. The said 0 emng 22 in the upper head 21 of the body 8 is closed or opened to a greater or lesser extent by the manipulation of an entering needle valve 26, shown in Figs. 3 and 4. This needle valve is rovided with an exteriorly threaded shan 27 that is .passed through a correspondingly threaded opening in the arch 23, and the saidshank 27 is provided at its fipper end with a head 28 located within the. bail '24 so that the said needle valve is readily accessible for operation.

iston 29 i mounted to slide in the cylin er 19 of the body 0 of the attachment.-

The construction of the said. clamp B is completed by providing aguide' out through the head of the cylinder 19, and at the'lower end of the said )iston rod 30, a horizontal arm 31 is secure that extends beyond a side of the said cylinder 19, 4 and this arm 31 is provided near its outer end with an aperture 32, and just below the I connection of said arm '31 with the piston rod 30, a ring 33, oritsequivalent issec'ured to the said arm. In connection with the said body section 0 of the attachment, I by preference employ a weight D to draw down the piston 29... When the weight l) is employed it is preferably constructed as 'is 'shown in Fig, 3, consisting of a cylindrical body portion 34 andlower and upper heads 35 and 36 ordinarily removable from the body ortion. A hook 37 or the like is attache to the upper head 36 on said weight D, and adapted for engagement with the eye I 33 atthe lower portion of the body section C of the attachment.

The cylindrical portion 34 of the Weight 1) is filled or partially filled, with shot 38, or the like, and when shot are employed, the space between thebulkof the shot and the op -os-- ing head of the body 34 of the weight is led in with cotton, cloth, or equivalent matepasses up at the outside of the cylinder 19 of 1 rial 39, to prevent the shot from rattling. Enough shot must be used to overcome the frictiorfof thepiston and the resistance of the shutter release to which thdattachment is applied.

A cord .40' has one of its ends passed through the opening 32 in the arm 31, and is suitab y secured to said arm, and this cord the body portion ofthe attachment throu h the opening 32 in the extension fromft e up er head 21. o.

This cord 40 is carried up an is-passed through an eye in the finger release 10 if such an eye is present, if not, the

cord is passed through 'the eye 15 in the clamp B previously applied to the said finger release. The upper end of. the cord 40 is then carried down through a clip E through .which the main portion of a cord "has been previouslyp'assed, as is shown particularly in Fig. 7. This clip of a block 42 having an opening 42 extending through from one end to the other, in which opening the cord is received. A follower 43 is likewise located in theopening 4 2, which follower is pressed against the parallel and engaging strands of the cord by means of a set screw 44, or equivalent thereof, located in said block. V

In the operation of the attachment, the

'needlevalve havin been set to admit more or less air to the cy inder 19 of the body sectiOnZO and the time of movement of the pis' ton having been calculated, the weight to be a plied to the piston rod 30jbeing known,

the 00k 25 of the cylinder is passed over the focusin screw 12 of the camera,-'or over any conven ent projection adjacent to that. side E consists to t means for connecting the first named means of the camera at which the finger'release is located, then thefree end. of the cord 40 is connected with the finger release in the manner heretofore described. After the attachment ofthe piston rod. 30 to the finger release 10, the weight D is added, whereupon the operator can take apositi'on in the landscape, or in a group to be photographed, and at the proper time the piston 29 will have dropped down sufliciently far to cause the finger release to-be tripped. In order to determine the time of, release, I place the piston at a point near the bottom of the cylinder and adjust the length'of the cord so that it just trips the shutter. Then I place the piston at the top of the cylinder, the needle valve being wide open, and attach a wei hi; and determine by experiment how much s 0t is required to overcome the friction of the piston and the resistance of the shutter, and

manipulate the valve until it operates at a desired interval.

or hand camera F. The attachment employed is identical in constructiomwith that which has been previously described, but the cord 45 from the arm 31 in this case is carried up centrally and is attached in any desired way to the finger release 45 for such camera, and a cord 46 is employed attached to the bail 24, for example, and to a pin or equivalent device 47 seoured to a firm portion ofthe casing of the camera, such attachment being .madepreferably by forming aloop at the free end of the cord 46 through the medium of the clip E.

One advantageofthis device consistsin v n 'Fig. 2 I have illustrated the adaptation of the attachment to a box, magazine the fact that it can be adapted to a great the same downward, a needle valve at'the upper end of the cylinder for admitting air to, I

the cylinder above-the piston, and for regulating the air supply, means 0OI11160ted,W1th the piston rod and adapted for attachment e finger release" of the shutter, and

to the said finger release.

-2. An automatic release for camera shutters, consisting of a cylinder, means forSupporting the cylinder from a camera structure,

a valve at one end of the cylinder adapted to within the saidcylinder and meansfor connecting thdpiston with the finger release of control the admission of air thereto, a piston a camera shutter, and an adjustable Weight exerting pulling power on the piston in the I direction from the source of air supply.

the combination with a cylinder, means for attaching the cylinder to a camera structure, a needle valve at one end of the cylinder, a

\ piston Within the cylinder, a rod attached to the piston and extending out beyond the opposite end of the cylinder, and means for connecting the piston rod with the finger release or"- a shutter, of a second cylinder, Weights located in the said second cylinder, and means for connecting the weighted cylinder with the piston rod of the first named cylinder.

5. In a release device for camera shutters,

the combination with the body of a cylinder,

a piston therefor, a rod attached to the piston and extending outthrough the lower end of the said cylinder, a flexible elementadapted to connect the piston rod with the finger release of the shutter, and a needle valve at the upper endof the said body of the cylinder, of

a weight removably connected with the outer end portion of the piston rod, and means for attaching the said flexible connecting element to said camera finger release.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing Witnesses.

CHAS. CHASE LITTLE.

Witnesses:

Enw. F. DISTEL, TOWNSEND Woon. 

